Education passport to unlimited future

Uttam Kumar grew up in a household where English was not spoken. He taught himself the language reading novels, watching movies and listening to the BBC news.

But after completing VBN Senior Secondary School in Bassai with a mark of 100 per cent, the ambitious youth won a place at Delhi's Indian Institute of Technology after sitting an exam with 450,000 candidates.

At India's most prestigious university, all classes are taken in English. "At first I was very shy speaking in English, and I was hesitant to ask questions or to participate, but I worked hard to learn."

Three years later, he graduated eighth in his class, a cohort of some of India's brightest students.

And now, he has now beaten 37,000 candidates from more than 100 countries to win the Australian Government's Win your Future Unlimited scholarship to study in Australia in 2014. He is enrolled in a master's course at the University of NSW but already has eyes on a doctorate beyond. Uttam will study materials science - specifically, the creation of new materials made from natural fibres that could help India develop sustainably.

"I am especially interested in soft materials, such as polymers and composites that could be used to create photovoltaic cells cheaply."

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Uttam wants to see progress in his home country - the building of national infrastructure, the electrification of tens of millions of powerless homes - that is not dependent on simply using more and more petroleum and coal.

"I want to study recycling, too. In Australia, a lot of work is being done on recycling. In India, nothing is recycled, everything is just thrown out together, and there is a huge pollution problem. I want to help improve people's lives in India, so they can have development, but a healthy and pollution-free life."

From humble beginnings - his father's education was interrupted by an accident, and his mother did no schooling beyond 12 years of age - Uttam has been a self-made student.

His father runs a shop in Bassai, selling biscuits, sweets and toys, but also, notably, pens and notebooks.

"I never had to say anything to encourage him. He was always a hard worker by himself. I never had to tell him to study; he always wanted to top his class," Trilok Chand Mittal tells Fairfax through an interpreter.

For India's enormous, restless aspirational class - the tens of millions of urban families seeking advancement into the middle class - education is the answer, the silver bullet that transforms lives. But this is a hyper-competitive country: four in 10 of the children who start school will not finish elementary level, according to United Nations figures. A further quarter will not make it to the end of the primary years.

And the ramifications for not only employment but for health, family, even life expectancy are profound.

The determinations of the ancient caste system remain undeniably influential but, increasingly in modern India, it is education that determines life's opportunities.

Uttam's story is one played out all over India, of children being given, often at enormous cost to poor families, educational opportunities far beyond the ken of their parents.

There is little to sell in Trilok's shop in Bassai, and little money in the village with which to buy anything, but he saved up enough to pay school fees for his four children.

"And now we are very proud of Uttam. From this whole district, he is the only one [to go to Australia], so we are all very proud."

Australia remains a sought-after destination for Indian university students - the student violence issue of four years ago had a smaller impact on tertiary enrolments than other sectors - and a weaker dollar makes it even more attractive.

The number of Indian students beginning higher education in Australia jumped 66 per cent between 2012 and 2013, to 8420. All told, there are more than 45,000 Indians studying in Australia.

Indeed, it is rare to find a village, especially across northern India, where there is not a family who has sent a son (it is usually a son) to Australia to study, or is endeavouring to do so.

Because, while among India's parents there is recognition of the value of education, the country's school system is yet to catch up.

India's public education system remains riven by structural deficiencies: government schools are derelict, teachers are poorly paid and many rarely turn up to school.

In some schools, lessons simply never happen. When they do, there is often still an emphasis on ''teaching to the test'' and rote learning. Critical thinking and analysis, problem solving and reasoning are often entirely neglected. Classes are too big so overwhelmed teachers, particularly those in rural one-class schools, teach to the middle, the younger or weaker students drop out because they cannot keep up, and the brighter or older students do the same out of boredom.

But ambition finds a way. Uttam Kumar is an exemplar of the creative, restless drive of this country. "My place is a small agricultural village but, with a good education, I can travel all over the world."